India to train Afghan army

NEW DELHI—Indian Army will impart training to Afghan Army in counter-insurgency operations.
It was decided during a meeting between the Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and his Indian counter-parts here. The Afghan Defence Minister is here to discuss enhancement of military cooperation with India. On Thursday, he paid a daylong visit to Srinagar-based 15 Corps of the Indian army where he was briefed on the counter-insurgency operations in occupied Kashmir, The Tribune quoting defence sources said. “As Afghanistan had no big training institute there, their officers and jawans used to come to India to undergo special training here,” a senior official said.
“Terrorism is a common threat to both the countries. Cooperation between us is important against fundamentalism and terrorism,” Wardak was quoted having said. India has planned to test-fire its Intermediate range Agni-III ballistic missile in the last week of this month.
The missile will be launched from the inner Wheeler Island in Orissa state’s Balasore coast at any time between April 23 to 30, The Asian Age quoting sources said. More than 200 scientists are engaged at the test range for the trial. This will be the third test of Agni-III which has a strike range of 3,500 km. Its first test failed in 2006 while the second test in 2007 met success, the sources said.
According to details, it is a short and stubby missile weighing 48.3 tonnes with a diameter of 1.8 meters. It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads weighing around 1.5 tonnes.
“The sophisticated missile will require just two to three more tests before limited series production trials by the armed forces. It will take two more years for its operational deployment,” a defence scientist said.
Quoting defence experts, the daily said induction of Agni-III will allow India to catch up with China ’s nuclear strike capacity. The missile can strike major Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing . The missile can also add another stage and cross the 5,000 km. The Indian Defence Ministry has approved to purchase 384 light helicopters for the Army and the Air Force worth over $ 1.6 billion. The international tenders will be floated soon for this one of the biggest defence contract in the recent times.
The approval was given in a meeting chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony which was attended among others by minister of state for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh and Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, besides the top brass of the Ministry of Defence and the services, media reports quoting defence authorities said.
India plans to replace the old and aged 1970s generation Chetak and Cheetah helicopters of the Army. The Indian army will get 259 helicopters while the remaining 125 will be for the Air force. One hundred and ninety seven helicopters will be purchased directly from the manufacturers while the remaining will be built by Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL) in India under the technology transfer deal.

—Agencies